blond
Americanadjective
-
(of hair, skin, etc.) light-colored.
the child's soft blond curls.
-
(of a person) having light-colored hair and skin.
-
(of furniture wood) light in tone.
noun
-
a blond person.
-
silk lace, originally unbleached but now often dyed any of various colors, especially white or black.
adjective
-
(of men's hair) of a light colour; fair
-
(of a person, people or a race) having fair hair, a light complexion, and, typically, blue or grey eyes
-
(of soft furnishings, wood, etc) light in colour
noun
Spelling
See blonde.
Usage
What’s the difference between blond and blonde? Blond and blonde are both adjectives most commonly used to describe the color of light or yellowish hair or someone who has such hair. They can also both be used as nouns referring to a person with such hair, as in Should I make this character a blond or a redhead? They are pronounced exactly the same. But there is a difference: the spelling blonde is typically used in a gender-specific way to refer to or describe women and girls with this hair color. In contrast, the use of blond in a gender-neutral way is very common. And when the word is used as an adjective, this spelling is much more commonly used, regardless of the gender of the person whose hair color is being described.Blond and blonde derive from French, which has grammatical gender, meaning that some words end differently depending on whether they are applied to men or women (with e being the feminine ending). This happens in a few other pairs of words in English, like confidant and confidante, though in many cases the term without the e has become largely gender-neutral. This is the case with blond, which is the more commonly used of the two.When describing the colors of things other than hair, such as wood or coffee, only the spelling blond is used.When in doubt, remember that the spelling blond is appropriate in all cases.Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between blond and blonde.
Other Word Forms
- blondish adjective
- blondness noun
Etymology
Origin of blond
First recorded in 1475–85; from Middle French blonde “blond, light brown,” feminine of blond, from Germanic; akin to Old English blondenfeax “gray-haired,” Latin flāvus “yellow” ( flavo- )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Her once jet-black curly hair has been dyed blond.
From Literature
A blond woman wearing a navy pantsuit, a zipped black leather case held to her chest, is standing there.
From Literature
The force believed the woman was in her mid to late teens, with green eyes and brown hair, with darker roots and blond ends.
From BBC
Pence still has blond hair sticking out from the back of his hat after he recently got his hair cut.
From Los Angeles Times
Expect to see a lot of pencil skirts, artfully tucked-in white button downs and tousled blond hair this summer.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
